JOHANNESBURG, 19 June 2007 – Aspect Software, Inc., the world’s largest company focused solely on the contact centre, announced today that MTN, a South African communications company, has seen significant contact centre management improvements in its customer service operation since migrating to session initiation protocol (SIP)-based voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and consolidating sites using Aspect® Spectrum® ACD. With approximately 1,600 seats, MTN now boasts one of the largest IP contact centres in Africa.
MTN was operating three contact centres – Johannesburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Polokwane – to serve its pre-paid customer base, with each site having its own Aspect Spectrum ACD. Since the migration to SIP-based VoIP, these sites have been consolidated into the Johannesburg location and by implementing VoIP links to the other branch offices, the agents now work remotely as an extension of the Johannesburg system. This virtual contact centre approach has enabled the company to increase the efficiency of its contact centre workforce and deliver a better customer experience.
According to Karen Brits, Manager of Telephony Systems at MTN, “Before moving to VoIP, we were utilizing multisite routing, which proved to be ineffective for us due to time limitations. By creating a virtual contact centre, we were able to overcome the challenge and can now better manage our pool of agents across each centre to ensure that the right agent is always available at the right time, and to give our customers the quality of service they deserve.”
In addition to Aspect Spectrum ACD, MTN uses other Aspect Software products, including:
o Aspect® EnsemblePro™, a unified platform which offers inbound, outbound and blended multichannel contact (voice, e-mail, Web and fax), while delivering queuing, routing, reporting and agent empowerment capabilities in a single product,
o Aspect® Unison® Predictive Dialer, an outbound customer contact product that integrates with existing voice and data systems and offers campaign development tools, predictive dialing, call blending, a browser-based agent desktop, real-time statistics and historical reporting, and
o Aspect® eWorkforce Management™, a contact centre product that enables accurate planning, efficient management and optimal performance of multi-skilled, multichannel, multisite and outsourced staffing resources.
“MTN is clearly embracing technology as a means of providing a competitive edge,” said Ralph Breslauer, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Aspect Software. “Recognizing that SIP-based contact centre technology can not only enable them to successfully elevate the level of service they provide to their customers, but also offers them opportunities to enhance business processes, increase flexibility and reduce costs.”
Prior to implementing the virtual contact centre, MTN’s Johannesburg agents were available between 07h00 and 23h00, Polokwane agents from 06h00 to 11h00, and Kwa-Zulu Natal agents were available all 24 hours. Each time one contact centre required a change in its operating schedule, MTN had to make extensive changes in its contact centre systems.
“Now, using Aspect eWorkforce Management, we are seeing a huge positive impact on how we manage things like schedule changes. It’s as easy as knowing agents are available if they are visible online,” said Brits. ”In our virtual centre, scheduling is simpler and the VoIP migration has made the contact centre completely flexible.”
“Aspect Software enables organisations to implement IP when, where and how it will benefit them most. MTN had a smooth, seamless migration to SIP-based VoIP using its existing Aspect Spectrum ACDs,” said Henry McCracken, Africa regional sales director for Aspect Software. “Now, MTN has the choice and flexibility it needs to deliver a consistent customer experience and achieve its customer interaction strategies while leveraging its investments in other technologies. It’s the ideal combination.”
About Aspect Software
Aspect Software, Inc. founded the contact center industry and is now the world’s largest company solely focused on providing session initiation protocol (SIP)-based Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and traditional voice-based products and services for customer service, collections, and sales and telemarketing business processes. Each day, Aspect Software powers more than 125 million customer-company interactions at thousands of in-house and outsourced contact centers around the globe. Its trusted Signature product line offers automatic call distributors (ACDs), dialers, voice portals and computer telephony integration (CTI). The company’s leading Contact Center Performance Optimization product line provides workforce management, quality management, performance management and campaign management applications. And, its pioneering Aspect Unified IP product delivers a comprehensive, multichannel solution. Headquartered in Chelmsford, Mass., Aspect Software has operations across the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.
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